Freddy Maertens Boule d’Or Cycling Team

Boule d’Or was a famous Belgian team early 80ies with some of Belgium’s greatest riding for it: Roger De Vlaeminck, Fons Dewolf, Rik Van Linden, Marc Sergeant, and last but not least Freddy Maertens who performed one of the greatest come-backs in cycling.
After 2 very difficult years in 1979 and 1980, without any victory and barely a race finished.
Legendary team director, Lomme Driessens, in 1981 gave Freddy Maertens a last chance in his Boule d’Or team.
Nobody would give a penny for his chances, especially when starting the Tour de France without any decent result and obviously overweight.
Surprisingly Freddy ended up winning no less than 5 stages and the green jersey, but the best was yet to come.
In the World Championships in Prague, he outclassed Saronni and Hinault in a royal sprint to become World Champion for the second time in his career.